Cooking food over an open flame is a method of food preparation enjoyed by many due to the enhanced flavour and aroma associated with barbecuing. This is particularly so in the case of cooking meats where the grease and drippings from the meat are burned or seared to impart onto the meat a smoked flavour.
On account of the popularity of barbecuing food numerous types of barbecues and similar devices have been developed. Early barbecues typically used wood or charcoal as a source of fuel, however, in recent years natural gas and propane have become the fuel of choice. The clean burning flame and the instant heat created by burning gaseous fuels have resulted in gas barbecues becoming extremely popular outdoor cooking devices and displacing wood and charcoal barbecues from much of the marketplace.
The typical gas barbecue is comprised of a housing with one or more gas burners. These burners typically have a number of apertures or orifices through which gas is released and ignited in order to produce a flame for cooking and heating purposes. The supply of gas to the burner is regulated by a control valve such that the intensity of the flame and the amount of heat generated can be varied. A form of cooking grill is typically positioned above the burner to provide a cooking surface for the food. One of the main problems encountered when using gas barbecues is a result of grease drippings that fall from meat cooked on the grill down into the barbecue housing. If the drippings come into contact with either the burners or the open flame they can become ignited presenting a dangerous situation. Flare ups caused by the ignition of grease drippings also can result in the charing of food on the grill.
Another problem encountered with modern forms of gas barbecues relates to the manner in which the burners are ignited. Many barbecues are constructed with two or more separate burners so that when cooking small amounts of food the entire burner system need not be ignited thereby conserving fuel. The problem that exists is in providing a means or method to ignite the burners independently of one another. Others have developed various forms of electronic ignition devices to accomplish this while still others have positioned the burners near the external edges of the barbecue housing such that a lit match can be used to ignite a particular burner. Yet others have developed complex pilot tubes which carry gas from one burner to the next in order to cross-ignite the burners. While all of these methods function at various degrees of efficiency, each suffers from its own inherent limitations ranging from the potential for explosion and burning in the case of ignition by way of a lit match, to complexity and expense in the cases of electronic and pilot tube igniters.